, -; RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI Role and Relevance of Rajya Sabha in Indian Polity Proceedings of the Seminar organised on the occasion of the 200th Session of Rajya Sabha on 14 December 2003 in Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi Editor Dr. Yogendra Narain Secretary-General Rajya Sabha RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI F. No. RS. 12/2/2004-R&L CONTENTS PAGES PREFACE i-iii Understanding the Dr. Yogendra Narain Importance of Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha 1-3 @ 2004 BYRAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT, NEW DELHI Rajya Sabha http:// parliamentofinida.nic.in http://rajyasabha.nic.in Redefining the role of Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat E-mail: [email protected] Rajya Sabha Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha 5-8 Legacy of the Presiding Prof. Madhu Dandavate Officers of Parliament Former Union Minister of Finance and Minister of Railways 10-16 Upholding the federal Dr. L.M. Singhvi ethos of Indian polity Eminent Jurist and former Member of Parliament (RajyaSabha) 18-29 Rajya Sabha - a Shri Harish Khare Price: Rs. 75.00 'Chamber of Ideas' Associate Editor, The Hindu 32-35 Generating the spirit Shri Ranganath Misra of national togetherness Former Chief Justice of India and Member of Parliament (RajyaSabha) . 37-38 Standing the test of time Shri P. Shiv Shanker Former Union Minister and Member of Parliament ., . 40-42 Strengthening Rajya Sabha Shri Kuldip Nayar as afederal Chamber Veteran Journalist and former Member Published by the Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha and . of Parliament of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) 44-48 printed by Akashdeep Printers, 20, Ansari Road, Darya Gan), New Delhi-ll0002 -- Enriching the nation Shrimati V.5. Rama Devi by useful deliberations Former Governor, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka and former PREFACE Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha . 50-54 The Winter Session of Parliament of the year 2003 was the 200th Session of Representing the federal Shri Era Sezhiyan Rajya Sabha, a landmark in our parliamentary democracy. To celebrate this 56-57 character of the Indian Former Member of Parliament . historic occasion, various activities and programmes were organized. A Sub- Constitution Committee of the General Purposes Committee of Rajya Sabha was set up by the hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha on 18 October 2003 to coordinate and Retaining the vision of the Shri R.c. Tripathi supervise celebrations to commemorate the 200th Session of Rajya Sabha, with Founding Fathers of the Former Secretary-General, Dr. (Smt.) Najma HeptuIla, the then Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha as 59-61 Constitution Rajya Sabha . convener and Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the then Member of Rajya Sabha and currently the Minister of Defence, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then Member of Importance of Second Prof. Noorjahan Bava (Retd.) Rajya Sabha and now the Minister of Railways, Dr. P. C. Alexander, Shri Nilotpal Chamber in afederal and Department of Political Science, Basu, Shri Rama Shanker Kaushik, Shri Satish Pradhan, Dr. Alladi P. Rajkumar, 63-68 democratic polity University of Delhi . Shri Muktar Abbas Naqvi and Shri S. Viduthalai Virumbi as Members of the Committee. The Sub-Committee in its first meeting held on 6 November 2003 The two Houses: Playing Shri G.c. Malhotra inter-alia decided to organize a Seminar on the theme 'Role and Relevance of 70-72 a complementary and Secretary-General, Lok Sabha . Rajya Sabha in Indian Polity'. The Committee felt that apart from academicians, supplementary role in renowned parliamentarians, elderly statesmen, journalists, eminent jurists, Indian polity former Secretaries-General should also be invited to speak in the Seminar. The Sub-Committee endorsed the proposal ofShri Nilotpal Basu that students from Towards a more Dr. (Shrimati) Najma Heptulla some Universities and prominent technological institutes may be invited to interactive democracy Former Deputy Chairperson, witness the proceedings of the Seminar, which it was felt, would help them to Rajya Sabha . 74-80 know and lmderstand the role played by Parliament in the constitutional scheme. Possibly for the first time in our parliamentary history, a decision was taken to Preserving the democratic Dr. P.L. Sanjeev Reddy invite the students to attend a Seminar organized to discuss one of the important ethos and spirit of the nation Director, institutions of our parliamentary democracy. Indian Institute of Public Administration . 82-83 In pursuance of the decision taken by the Sub-Committee of the General Purposes Committee, a Seminar on the theme 'Role and Relevance of Write-ups on Seminar Rajya Sabha in Indian Polity' was organized by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in received from the students 85-122 collaboration with the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi on 14December 2003in the Main Committee Room, Parliament House Annexe: The Seminar was inaugurated by the Vice-President of India and Letters of appreciation received from a Member and students 123-127 Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Eminent speakers from different walks of life, namely Professor Madhu Dandavate, Dr. L. M. Singhvi, Media coverage of Seminar 129-136 Shri Harish Khare, Shri Ranganath Misra, Shri P. Shiv Shanker, Shri Kuldip Nayyar, Shrimati V. S. Rama Devi, Shri Era Sezhiyan, Shri R. C. Tripathi and Prof. (Smt.) Noorjahan Bava addressed the Seminar. The other invitees to the Seminar were Shri G. C. Malhotra, Secretary-General, Lok Sabha and Dr. P. L.Sanjeev Reddy, Director, Indian Institute of Public Administration, who spoke on the occasion. On the occasion four books brought out by the Rajya - ,--- l&.. iii ii Sabha Secretariat, namely 'Socio-Economic Profile of Members of Rajya Sabha '. The ~pee~hes delivered by the speakers during the Seminar have been (1952-2002); 'Humour in the House: A glimpse into the enlivening moods of Incl~ded In thI~volume. The text of the speeches were sent to the s eakers for Rajya Sabha'; 'Women Members of Rajya Sabha'; and 'Private Members' vetting, correctIOns,f etc. The texts of the speechesW h' IC hwere not P receIved . Legislation' were released by the Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya from some 0 the Speakers ,:ere edited alongwith the vetted speeches received Sabha and the then Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha. fromI other speakers and sllltable headings have been gIven . t0 t h ese speeches I p .ace on recor~ my appreciation for the assistance rendered to me b th~ As a unique gesture, fivestudents each from the Central Universities, Indian officers. belongmg to the. Research and L'bI rary S' erVIce partIcularly. Y Institutes ofTechnology (IITs),Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)and the S~n S.N. Sa~u, the the~ Direc.tor, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Shri N. K. Sin h DIrector,Shn S.D. NautIyal, Jomt Director Ms R S'I A' . g, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi were invited to . b' . ' . osey al 0, sSlstant Director witness the proceedings of the Seminar. Showing an overwhelming response, a ill rIngmg out the volume. I~ope that the publication would be oflastin value total of 83 students from 18 Universities/Institutes had come to attend the tothe r~adersand general publIcand to thosewho are interested in the fun ~ . ofparlIamentary democracy. c onmg Seminar. The Universities/Institutes represented at the Seminar were Aligarh Muslim University; Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow; BanarasHindu University, Varanasi;Jamia MilliaIslamia,New Delhi;Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Pondicherry University; University of Delhi; DR. YOGENDRA NARAIN University of Hyderabad; Visva Bharati, Santiniketan; Indian Institutes of New Delhi Secretary-General Technology located at Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, November 2004 Rajya Sabha Chennai and Roorkee; and Indian Institutes of Management, Indore and Lucknow. Dr. (Smt.)Najma Heptulla, the then Deputy Chairperson, RajyaSabha, while referring to the celebrations of the 200'h Session at the conclusion of the Session on 23 December 2003, said in the House: "I think, the most important event which, I feel, of the 200'h Session celebrations was the Seminar which we organized and the Secretariathad worked very hard for it -because that Seminar had significance ... It is a very good effort towards creating an understanding among the youth and trying to make them feela part ofour democratic process." In her valedictory remarks, Dr. (Smt.) Najma Heptulla, while thanking the students for attending the Seminar, requested them to write about their experiences of the Seminar. She also said that the Rajya Sabha would give awards for the three best write-ups. In response to our request in this regard, we received write-ups from students of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The two write-ups adjudged as the first and second were received from a student each of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, respectively. They have been given prizes for their write- ups by the RajyaSabha Secretariat. All the write-ups received from the students have been edited and included in this volume. As the Seminar received good coverage in the print media, all the press clippings on the Seminar and letters of appreciation received from a member and students have also been included in the Annexure. - r-o~------ Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha releasing a lighting the ceremonial lamp m the Semmar on the theme book titled Humour ill fhe House - A glimpse illfa the elllivellillg mo<.ls of Rajya Sablln. TI,e then Role and Relevance of Rajya Sablln III Indlnll PolIty Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha Dr. (Smt.) Najrna Heptulla, Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha, Dr. YogcndraNarain and Secretary-General,lok Sabha,Shri G. C. Malhotra are also present on the dais Dr.